Jammu Tawi 23, Oct 20: The Action Committee of Advocates Bar, Jammu constituted by the practicing advocates in High Court and Subordinate Courts in Jammu held a Dharna in the Janipura Court area today. The participating lawyers were protesting against closure of entry for lawyers and general public to High Court and Subordinate Courts in Jammu besides on other issues. They were raising slogans in support of their demand. The main issues of demands included:
1. Opening of all courts for physical entry to lawyers and public, resume physical hearing.
2. Accepting hard copies of cases,
3. Opening the locked Bar Rooms of lawyers,
4. Providing stamp papers and tickets within court premises through stamp vendors,
5. Immediately opening of Consumer Courts,
6. Shifting back Registry of Documents to Judicial Officers.
7. Withdrawing contempt initiated against the lawyers.
8. Holding immediate election to the J&K Bar Council.
The protesting lawyers, expressed grave concern and anguish over closing of Courts door for lawyers and general public despite the fact that lock down in other fields of activity in the UT and the Country like in buses, shopping malls, bazaars, cinema halls, marriage halls, pilgrimage places, public parks, govt. and private offices, has been lifted whereas the ban on entry of lawyers and public to courts has been strictly imposed. This has caused great inconvenience to the public and the lawyers who are officers of court. The access to Courts, constituted for providing justice to the citizens, cannot be denied. The lawyers are officers of court and thus integral part of judicial process. Denial of access to lawyers amounts to denial of justice to the public and freedom of lawyers to fulfill their constitutional and legal duties. Functioning of courts cannot be conceived without lawyers. Closing of lawyers bar rooms, not providing stamp papers in courts, not opening consumer courts, shifting of Registry from Judicial officers to Revenue Officers has worsened the plight of lawyers and general public
The prominent participants in today's DHARNA were JA Kazmi(Former vice president), HC Jalmeria, Babu Ram Sharma, Sat Pal Sharma(from Poonch Bar), Kuldip Singh Parihar, Suresh Sharma(Former vice president), Subodh Jamwal, Ravinder Sharma, Rajinder Singh Jamwal, Manohar Gupta, Ashwani Khajuria, Meharban Singh, Surjit Singh Andotra, Sheikh Aleem, Umesh Sharma, Baldev Singh, Amit Gupta, Kunal Chib, Vishal Abrol, Atul Raina, Divya Ishan, Bhavishya Sudan, Sanjeev Bhandari, Arjun Singh Manhas, Narinder Sharma, Leena Devi, Amzi Arthur John, Gourav Sharma, besides others.
